The origins of gnosticism are rather obscure, or so it seems to me! . “Gnosticism is an extremely widespread phenomenon in late Hellenism, occurring in many different communities-Jewish, Christian and pagan” (A. Segal, 1986) On the Jewish side, the 400 years without an authoritative word from God seems to have spurred thought about the next level of spiritual beings, angels and demons, as found in the intertestamental literature. Jewish theology within the inter-testamental period in general evidenced an increasing distancing of God; a lessening of direct references to God, the bat kol and so on. A. Segal, 1986, posits the development of this trend within the Jewish community to the point of its becoming the “two powers” heresy, a form of Gnosticism. This would eventually lead to the Kabalistic strand of Judaism. For example, the Nag Hammadi manuscripts refer to the mystic significance of the number 72. There are no parallels in Patristic, Hermetic or Rabbinic works, but the concept reappeared in a 12th century Kabbalistic work, , indicating “the presence of a Jewish Gnostic tradition one thousand years earlier.” (Sed, 1979) The rabbis were opposed to this trend, and some see the Talmud as employing anti-gnostic polemic.
This Jewish gnosticism seems to have been largely seperated from the gentile variety, and especially, from the gentile Christian variety, which was an attempt by some in the emerging gentile church to jetison its Jewish roots, and replace them by grafting onto popular pagan religiosity. This gentile Christian gnosticism was defined by its anti-Jewishness. “the nature of the relation of Gnosticism to Judaism in itself an undeniable fact is defined by the anti-Jewish animus with which it is saturated” H. Jonas. Likewise, W. H. C. Frend, 1984 (himself no friend of Judaism) “Judaism was to be the one continuous theme through all the variations of Gnosticism”. “Gnostics, too, viewed the whole of creation, including the Jewish scriptures, to be the work of the (sometimes evil) Demiurge”. S. Wilson, 1995, while Valentinus has been described as a Christian who sought “to set forth the living essence of their Religion in a form uncontaminated by the Jewish envelope in which they had received it”. F. Burkitt. “[Basilides] castigated Yahweh as an aggressive deity and the Jews as a people who took after him, aspiring to subjugate other nations, an interesting comment perhaps on the feeling in Alexandria in the years between the Jewish rebellion of 115 and the rising of Bar Kochbar in 132 ... Basilides hated Judaism”. W. H. C. Frend, 1984. The use of the Old Testament within Gnostic literature supports this view. The gentile, Christian Gnostic knowledge of the Old Testament has not only been described as “meager and truncated”, but we also find reference to “the massive evidence of anti-Jewish use of Jewish material”. R. Wilson, 1974, “there are no Old Testament references in the Nag Hammadi library which do not also occur in the New Testament. Jewish origin of Gnosticism seems less probable than the view that Gnosticism is the product of the hellenisation of Christianity” W. Beltz, “Gnosis und Altes Testament”, Zeitschrift fpr Religions und Geistgeschichte 28-4 (1976). In comparing the Gnostic writings quoted by the Patristics and the library of Nag Hammadi, it should be noted that the Patristic collection has a far higher density of Old Testament quotes than the Nag Hammadi, though of a smaller range. The higher density may be due to the selection process of the Partistics, but also to the fact that the Nag Hammadi library was “largely made up of Gnostic holy books meant only for internal consumption, but the heresiologists like Irenaeus had only Gnostic missionary documents which made the movement appear to be a Christian heresy”. F. Wisse, 1971.
Members of the Church experimented with Gnosticism at a time when to be associated with Judaism was politically, legally and socially damaging, and that the general anti-Jewish sentiment was shared by many in the Church. It is this desire to distance themselves from Judaism that gives us the motive underlying the movement (of gnostic Christianity). It was Christians wishing to escape the reproach of being labeled with Jews that formed the adherents of Marcionism and Gnosticism. The force of such sentiment can be seen from the success of the Marcionite church, which in the 3rd century, was larger in the eastern empire than the orthodox church. It is also found in the polemics and propaganda of the time. Marcionites, Gnostics and pagans all reproached the orthodox as “Jews”, stressing their continued use of the Jewish scriptures etc. While sharing with Marcionites the negative view and use of the Old Testament, Gnostics moved beyond Marcion when they tried to find a substitute body of scripture. This comprised both Christianized earlier Gnostic works, and their own writings. As seen, even the LXX was totally disdained by the Gnostics. Given its usage by the early church (especially in Alexandria), this can only be explained by the pervasive anti-Jewish sentiment of the Gnostics, and their disdain for “psychic” Christians as “Jews”.
Hope this adds to the discussion,
Colin